TL;DR: Learn to read Russian: every Cyrillic letter with its English sound, examples and the ЙЦУКЕН keyboard positions.
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The Russian alphabet is written in the Cyrillic script and has 33 letters: 21 consonants, 10 vowels and 2 signs. It is written left-to-right and is used by over 250 million people.
The 33 Russian letters
| Letter | Sound | Example | Key |
|---|---|---|---|
| А а | a | Армия (armiya) — army | f |
| Б б | b | Брат (brat) — brother | , |
| В в | v | Вода (voda) — water | d |
| Г г | g | Город (gorod) — city | u |
| Д д | d | Дом (dom) — house | l |
| Е е | ye | Ель (yel) — fir | t |
| Ё ё | yo | Ёлка (yolka) — fir tree | t + accent |
| Ж ж | zh (measure) | Жизнь (zhizn) — life | ; |
| З з | z | Зима (zima) — winter | p |
| И и | i | Игра (igra) — game | b |
| Й й | y (short) | Май (may) — May | q |
| К к | k | Кот (kot) — cat | r |
| Л л | l | Лес (les) — forest | k |
| М м | m | Мир (mir) — world | v |
| Н н | n | Ночь (noch) — night | y |
| О о | o | Окно (okno) — window | j |
| П п | p | Папа (papa) — dad | g |
| Р р | r (rolled) | Река (reka) — river | h |
| С с | s | Солнце (solntse) — sun | c |
| Т т | t | Там (tam) — there | n |
| У у | oo | Утро (utro) — morning | e |
| Ф ф | f | Флаг (flag) — flag | a |
| Х х | kh (loch) | Хлеб (khleb) — bread | [ |
| Ц ц | ts | Царь (tsar) — tsar | w |
| Ч ч | ch | Чай (chay) — tea | x |
| Ш ш | sh | Школа (shkola) — school | i |
| Щ щ | shch | Щи (shchi) — cabbage soup | o |
| Ъ ъ | hard sign | Объект (obyekt) — object | ] |
| Ы ы | y (in "bit") | Мы (my) — we | s |
| Ь ь | soft sign | Мать (mat) — mother | m |
| Э э | e (bet) | Это (eto) — this | ' |
| Ю ю | yu | Юг (yug) — south | . |
| Я я | ya | Я (ya) — I | z |
Practise on the keyboard
Open the Russian keyboard and type privet — actually press the keys that match your English fingers: ghbdn types привет. This is the fastest way to build muscle memory for the ЙЦУКЕН layout.
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